(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heating lamp brackets for use in the reaction chambers of evaporation coating machines and more particularly to the chamber brackets that are easy to be installed and that allow individual replacement of the heating lamps.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the reaction chambers of an electronic evaporation coating machine (or coater), the heating lamp sets are mounted in the reaction chambers to maintain the interior temperature of the reaction chambers at a normal reaction temperature of about 240 degrees Celsius to prevent the metal source for ionization from cooling and condensing, and avoid affecting the evenness of the film during coating processes.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional heating lamp set mounted in a reaction chamber of an evaporation coater. In general, a reaction chamber (corresponding to one electronic gun) has three sets of heating lamp brackets. Each bracket set has a pair of brackets 2 for mounting three pieces of heating lamps 4 as shown in the drawing. Each bracket 2 is mounted to the chamber wall 1 of the reaction chamber through an insulation member 21. Three heating lamps 4 have corresponding ends thereof disposed in the lamps seats 232 of a mounting frame 23 and are clamped by a hatch plated 24. Electric power for the heating lamps 4 is supplied through a power cord 3 which runs through a power inlet opening 231 formed in the mounting frame 23.
Generally, the mounting of heating lamps set forth above has following disadvantages:
1. The insulation member 21 serving as the medium between the bracket 2 and the chamber wall 1 has one end fixed on the chamber wall 1 and another end inserted into a fasten sleeve 22 extended from the mounting frame 23 and fastened by two set screws 221 through the fasten sleeve 22. The set screws 221 for fastening the insulation member 121 and the fasten sleeve 22 are being installed separately. In practice, there are no reference or means to help positioning the setscrews at the exact locations. Hence, in the conventional bracket 2, the fastening between the insulation member 21 and the fasten sleeve 22 is difficult and often leads to dislocation of the heating lamps 4. As a result, ill effect upon heating and thus coating is inevitable.
2. In the conventional bracket 2, the three sets of heating lamps 4 are fastened to the mounting frame 23 by clamping one end of the heating lamps 4 by a hatch plate 24, and the hatch plate 24 is fastened to the mounting frame 23 by two hatch screws 25 passing through the corresponding hatch screw bores 241 formed in the hatch plate 24 to engage with the corresponding screw bores (not shown in the drawing) formed in the mounting frame 23. In the event that one of the heating lamps 4 is malfunction, the hatch plate 24 has to be disassembled and removed for replacement of the damaged heating lamp 4. The disassembling and removing of the hatch plate 24 obviously affects three lamps 24. Therefore, repairs and maintenance work may be enhanced, and also the possibility of component damage may be increased.
3. The insulation member 21 is usually fastened to the fasten sleeve 22 by means of vertical set screws 221 which will push one side of the insulation member 21 to contact with the interior wall of the fasten sleeve 22. In the coating process, the upper rim (i.e. the area close to the chamber wall 1) of the contact area tends to accumulate a metal residue. As the insulation member is mounted in an encased type and has a slim insulation interval (i.e. the gap between the fasten sleeve 22 and chamber wall 1), the formation of the metal residue tends to cause a short circuit between the heating lamps and the chamber wall 1. As a result, the utilization and uptime of the chamber will be impacted directly.
Furthermore, in the operation of the conventional evaporation coaters, the repairs and maintenance procedures of the reaction chambers require cooling, de-vacuumizing and air blowing before replacing of the heating lamps 4 in the insulation member 21 can be begun. It is apparently that any repair and maintenance work will affect the production of evaporation coating. Thus, improving the mounting brackets of the heating lamps to reduce the repairs and maintenance frequency is an important issue to increase the equipment utilization rate.
The primary object of the invention to provide a heating lamp bracket for reaction chambers of evaporation coating machines that has independent bracket mounting spots and a non-encased type insulation member fastening structure for effectively resolving the problems of operation difficulty for replacing heating lamps and defective insulation that happen to the conventional structures.
The heating lamp bracket of the present invention is to mount a plurality of heating lamps in a paired and insulated fashion to the chamber wall of the reaction chambers of an evaporation coating machine or the like for keeping the reaction chambers at a constant reaction temperature. The bracket is to clamp a connection end located at one side of the heating lamps, and includes a mounting frame that has an insulation outer surface and a mounting outer surface opposite to the insulation outer surface. The insulation outer surface is to mount at least one insulation member that is to fasten the mounting frame to the chamber wall. The mounting outer surface provides at least two independent mounting spots for connecting independently the corresponding connection ends of the heating lamps.
In one embodiment of the invention, the mounting spots on mounting outer surface of the mounting frame for fastening the connection ends of the corresponding heating lamps can be embodied as mounting screw bores formed in the mounting frame and mounting screws for matching with the mounting screw bores. The connection ends of the heating lamps can then be fastened between the mounting screw bores and the mounting screws.
In another embodiment, the mounting spot may include a mounting screw bolt extended from the mounting frame and a mounting screw nut for matching with the mounting screw bolt. The connection end of the heating lamp can then be fastened between the mounting screw bolt and the mounting screw nut.
In the preferable embodiment of the invention, the mounting frame may include two insulation members, and each of them has an insulation screw bore to allow a fasten screw to fasten the insulation member onto the corresponding insulation outer surface of the mounting frame. The two insulation members form a linear mounting fashion and may fasten the mounting frame securely to the chamber wall of the reaction chamber. The height of the insulation members is the spacing between the insulation outer surface of the mounting frame and the chamber wall. Such a structure can improve the shortcomings caused by the small insulation gap that happens to the conventional encased type insulation members.
According to another embodiment of the invention, a fasten space is provided between the insulation outer surface and the mounting outer surface of the mounting frame to facilitate tightening or loosening of the fasten screws in the insulation screw bores. A through aperture is formed to connect the insulation outer surface and the fasten space for establishing the engaging of the insulation screw bore and the fasten screw.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.